COMPARISON OF BALL IMPACT CHARACTERISTICS BETWEEN SIDE-FOOT AND INSTEP KICKING IN SOCCER

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the kinematic characteristics during ball impact of soccer side-foot kicking. The foot and ball motions during ball impact phase of the instep and side-foot kicking were captured for two professional footballers using two ultra-high-speed cameras at 2000Hz. In the instep kicking, the foot was forced into plantar flexion, abduction and eversion by ball contact. On the other hand, in the sidefoot kicking, the passive plantar flexion motion was drastically restricted compared to that of instep kicking. Although the foot and ball velocity of the side-foot kicking were lower than those of the instep kicking, the efficiency of ball impact of the side-foot kicking approximately corresponded with that of the instep kicking. The complicated ball impact characteristics of side-foot kicking in highly skilled footballers were illustrated by ultrahigh- speed images.